(=Lepus californicus= and its subspecies)
(_For illustration, see page 507_)
The common hares, or gray-sided “jack rabbits” of the Western States,
are among our best known and most interesting mammals. They are
characterized by long, thin necks, long ears tipped with black, long
legs, grayish sides differing but little from the color of the back,
and a rather long tail, black on its upper side and dingy gray below.
They are abundant and generally distributed over a vast and mainly
treeless area in middle North America extending from western Missouri
and eastern Texas to the Pacific coast, and from the border of South
Dakota and the Columbia River Valley of Washington south over the
tableland of Mexico and throughout the peninsula of Lower California.
Within this region they range from sea level up to an altitude of over
9,000 feet. In the North they experience severe winters with much snow,
but never show any winter whitening of their furry coat, as do more
northern hares.
The gray-sided hares over all this extended range belong to a single
species, typified by the California jack rabbit. The area thus occupied
includes many different climatic and other physical conditions, from
the sweeping grassy plains of Kansas to the juniper and pine dotted
plateaus of the Rocky Mountain region, the foggy coast of California,
the hot cactus-grown deserts of the Southwest, and the cool elevations
of the Mexican tableland.
This varying environment has worked on the plastic organization of
the species and modified it into a considerable number of well-marked
geographic races which together make up the gray-sided group of jack
rabbits, in contrast with the white-sided group already described.
Some of the races are very dissimilar in color, but each merges
imperceptibly into its neighboring races, and the group thus forms an
unbroken chain of subspecies.
Like other hares, the jack rabbits are both diurnal and nocturnal
in habits. They do not burrow, but make forms among dense growths
of grass or weeds, or under bushes, where they lie hidden. It is a
question whether they have more than one litter a season, although it
is known that in some parts of their range young are born at all times
throughout the spring and summer. From one to six are produced at a
time, fully clothed in fur and with their eyes open. Within a few days
they leave the “form” and run about like little furry balls. Even at
this early period they are amazingly alert and skillful in evading
capture by quickly doubling and zigzagging when pursued.
[Illustration: A QUADRUPED WITH BIPED TRACK: THE COMMON CAT
The cat does not show its claws in the track. In walking, the hind foot
is set exactly in the track of the front foot; this perfect register
offers many advantages and makes for a silent tread. The track of the
cat will probably be noticed more than that of any other animal, owing
to the large numbers of them in every locality.]
Throughout its range the gray-sided jack rabbit is preyed upon by a
host of enemies, including wolves, coyotes, wildcats, eagles, and
several species of hawks and owls. As a result it has become extremely
cunning and watchful. It is a beautiful sight to observe the cautious
grace with which one that suspects danger but thinks itself unobserved
will quietly move out of its form, pause like a statue for a few
seconds, then raise its body into a sitting posture and look keenly
about, its great upstanding ears turning sensitively to one side and
the other, delicately testing the air for sound waves, which may spell
approaching peril.
If not alarmed it may then move slowly along by a series of easy little
hops, occasionally varied by the single-footed gait of most other
mammals. At such times the ears are often raised and lowered as though
worked by some mechanism. If the rabbit becomes alarmed, however, it
leaps away in quick, springy and graceful bounds, now and then making a
high soaring leap as if to command a better view.
These occasional high leaps mark the first stages of alarm. In greater
stress, when pursued by a coyote or other swift-footed enemy, the jack
rabbit indulges in no such showy performances, but gets down to serious
work, and developing marvelous action in a continuous series of
rapid, low stretching leaps, with ears lying flat along the shoulders,
it skims over the ground almost as swiftly as a bird. Coursing jack
rabbits with greyhounds was for many years a favorite sport in
different parts of the West. No other dog has much chance for success
in the open pursuit of these animals.
[Illustration: THE TRACKS OF THE JACK RABBIT
The tracks of the western jack rabbit resemble those of the cottontail
(see page 492), but the feet are seldom paired; a typical set is seen
in the lower left-hand corner. The bounds cover 10, 12, or even 15
feet each. The tail is held down, so that it leaves a mark in the snow
between each bound. Sometimes the animal makes a spy-hop--that is, hops
up high to look around. This is seen in the track.]
Ordinarily jack rabbits are mute, but when wounded and caught they not
infrequently utter a series of long-drawn wailing shrieks which are
movingly expressive of terror and pain.
Since the settlement of the Western States numberless predatory animals
have been killed and at the same time the cultivation of the soil has
produced a dependable increase in the food supply. These changes have
resulted in the sporadic increase of jack rabbits in many parts of
their range, from Texas to Oregon, until at times they have become a
serious menace to agriculture.
During such periods of abundance they invade fields and devastate
grain, forage crops, vineyards, and young orchards. In places they
sometimes actually destroy entire crops and force settlers to abandon
their locations. In winter they swarm about haystacks and destroy many
tons of hay. Depredations of this character were committed by them on a
considerable scale during 1916 in parts of Oregon, Idaho, and Utah.
During the early development of the San Joaquin Valley, California,
jack rabbits became such an intolerable pest that great community
drives were organized. Large woven wire corrals with wing fences
leading away several miles from the entrance were built on the open
plains. The occasions of the drives were made public holidays through
all the surrounding region, and people gathered sometimes to the
number of from 5,000 to 8,000. A great line of beaters was formed,
miles in length, and the jack rabbits were driven between wing fences
into corrals. Four such drives in Fresno County in the spring of 1892
resulted in the destruction of 40,000 jack rabbits, one drive netting
more than 20,000 animals.
At this time the level floor of the San Joaquin Valley was crossed by
numberless well-worn rabbit trails six or eight inches broad and one or
two inches deep, extending in long straight lines sometimes for miles.
On approaching a patch of large weeds one often saw twenty or thirty
jack rabbits dash out and, after hopping away a short distance, sit
with upstanding ears to look curiously at the intruder.
It is a general rule that when any species of animal becomes extremely
numerous it loses its ordinary wariness and, conversely, when its
numbers are materially reduced its wariness is greatly increased. The
periods of abundance of jack rabbits usually extend through several
years until, at the height of their increase, a contagious malady
suddenly sweeps them away almost to the point of extinction, as in the
case of the varying hare. A period of years follows during which their
numbers are slowly recovered.
Jack rabbits are specially adapted for life on great plains, where
speed and the ability to subsist on almost any form of vegetation are
prime qualities. They are as grotesquely characteristic of the Western
States as the kangaroos were of Australia, and have entered largely
into the literature of the region they occupy.
=THE VARYING HARES= (=Lepus americanus= and its relatives)
(_For illustration, see page 507_)
The varying hares, white rabbits, or snowshoe rabbits, as they are
known, form a small group of closely related species and geographic
races of hares peculiar to northern North America. They sometimes
attain a weight of five pounds and are about half the size of the
arctic hares, which they resemble in form, except that they are more
heavily built and have proportionately shorter legs and larger hind
feet.
With a single exception they become white in winter and change to dusky
or brownish in summer. The molt from the brown summer coat to the
white winter one occurs with the arrival of winter snows, the exact
time varying according to the season, the reverse change in spring
being governed in a similar way by the disappearance of the snow. In
the southern part of their range the change to the white winter coat
is less complete than in the North. There has been much controversy
over the manner of this change in color, some maintaining that on the
approach of winter the hairs turn white with the first snow. It has
been definitely proved, however, that both seasonal changes are due to
molt.
The Washington hare (_Lepus washingtoni_), which remains brown
throughout the year, is the exception to the rule of white winter coats
in this group of hares. It lives in the cool, dense forests of the
humid coast belt of Washington and adjacent part of British Columbia,
where the snowfall does not affect its pelage.
In winter the large hind feet of the varying hares and their long,
spreading toes are entirely covered with a heavy coat of hair, forming
broad snowshoe-like pads, which enable their possessors to move about
freely over the soft snow, a peculiarity that has given rise to one of
the names in common use.
In cool, forested regions varying hares range from Maine and extreme
eastern Canada, including Newfoundland, to the Pacific coast, and from
the stunted bushes bordering the northern limit of trees south to the
northern border of the United States and beyond, following the higher
Alleghenies to West Virginia, the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico, and
well down the Sierra Nevada in California.
As in the case of other species, these hares make “forms” in which
they lie by day, for they are mainly nocturnal in habits. The mating
season occurs in early spring, when the males become very restless,
several sometimes congregating in the same vicinity and occasionally
fighting and chasing one another about. At this time, as well as at
other seasons, snowshoe rabbits have a habit of thumping rapidly on the
ground, making a dull sound audible for some distance. This is probably
done with the hind feet, as is known to be the case with the European
rabbit.
The thumping is apparently a signal and may be a part of the mating
display, but is also used for warning purposes. Hunters in northern
Canada call these rabbits by making a harsh squeaking noise with their
lips. Sometimes they become so eager and excited on hearing this call
that with odd little grunting sounds they come bounding close up to the
hunter.
The young, varying from two to seven, are born in nests made of dry
leaves, grasses, and other suitable vegetation, warmly lined with hair
from the mother’s body, and usually hidden under brush or in dense
vegetation. The young, which have their eyes open and are fully furred
at birth, within a few days leave the nest and move freely about.
Although the mother snowshoe rabbit will defend her young at first even
at the risk of her life, when they are half grown she leaves them to
shift for themselves. Young hares of various ages when caught often
utter shrill squealing cries of fright and the older animals when
wounded and caught sometimes do the same.
Perhaps through living so constantly in low ground, among swamps and
along streams, varying hares become less averse to entering water
than most of their kind. In the delta of the Yukon River I saw many
places where they had crossed small streams in spring, their wet tracks
entering and leaving the water, thus furnishing unmistakable evidence.
Curiously enough, when caught by a flood they will take refuge on
stumps or other support and often remain to starve rather than swim
ashore.
In summer, owing to their nocturnal habits and the dense thickets
they inhabit, varying hares are rarely seen unless they are unusually
plentiful. In winter their presence is known by their conspicuous
tracks, leading in every direction through their haunts. A single
animal will in one night so thoroughly track the snow in a patch of
woods it gives the impression that several must have been there.
In river bottoms, among densely wooded swamps, these rabbits frequently
make definite beaten runways in the snow; runways are also made through
thickets in their summer haunts. This habit renders it easy to snare
them, and enormous numbers are thus captured every winter.
They feed on a variety of small herbage in summer and in winter
depend on buds, twigs, and the bark of shrubs and small trees. They
are specially fond of willows, and their winter distribution in many
districts is governed by the abundance of willow thickets.
Varying hares are one of the most important mammals of the northern fur
country. They are generally distributed and exist in such numbers that
they are an important source of food supply both to the Indians and to
such predatory birds and mammals as the great horned and snowy owls,
the goshawk, gyrfalcon, lynx, fox, ermine, fisher, and others. The
skins are also used by the Indians for robes.
[Illustration: FOOTPRINTS OF THE VARYING HARE, OR SNOWSHOE RABBIT
The great size of the feet from which the creature is named is a strong
feature of the track, distinguishing it from that of the cottontail and
others (see pages 489 and 507).]
Under favorable conditions they steadily increase until they become
enormously plentiful over great areas. After this swarming abundance
continues for several seasons it reaches a maximum, and then, as in the
case of many other mammals when similarly overabundant, a mysterious
malady suddenly attacks and sweeps them off, until within a year or two
they become rare over the entire area. The people of the fur country
believe these changes in numbers run in cycles of about seven years
each.
As the hares increase in numbers some of the birds and mammals which
prey upon them increase proportionately. This is specially marked
with the big northern lynxes. The skins of varying hares are gathered
and sent to the London fur market with other furs, including those of
lynxes. In the records of sales of the Hudson’s Bay Company there are
direct increases of the numbers of Canada lynx skins sold corresponding
with the increases in the sales of varying hare skins. As the number of
hare skins abruptly decreases following the outbreak of epidemics among
them, there are correspondingly abrupt decreases in the numbers of lynx
skins sold.
This correlation is shown in the records extending back many years and
illustrates the interdependence in nature between the various forms of
animal life. The far-reaching tragic effect of the sudden disappearance
of the snowshoe rabbits is not confined to the wild habitants of the
forest, as it has not infrequently brought starvation and death into
many lonely Indian lodges in the great northern wilderness.
=THE ARCTIC HARE= (=Lepus arcticus= and its relatives)
(_For illustration, see page 510_)
Many parts of the northernmost circumpolar lands are occupied by large
hares, which attain a weight of more than ten pounds. They are about
the size of large jack rabbits, but are more heavily proportioned, with
much shorter ears and shorter, stronger legs. There are several species
and geographic races of these animals, all of which are snowy white in
winter except for a small black tip on each ear. In summer the southern
arctic hares change to a nearly uniform dull iron gray or grayish
brown. The northernmost animals of Ellesmere Land and north Greenland,
where the summer is brief and severe arctic conditions prevail, retain
their white coat throughout the year.
In keeping with the cold climate of their territory, the furry coat
of the arctic hares is long and thick, especially in winter, when the
ears, legs, and even the soles of +he feet, as well as the body, are
heavily furred. The coats of the hares of north Greenland and adjacent
region are so heavy and fleecelike that during the spring molt they
come off in felted patches as the new coat is assumed, giving the hares
a curiously ragged appearance.
In the region between the areas in which the summer coat remains
wholly white and where it is completely changed to grayish, there is a
gradual transition, with the lessening severity of the climate, through
every intermediate degree between the two. As in the case of the
snowshoe rabbit, the large hind feet and long spreading toes of its big
northern relative are so heavily covered with hair that they form broad
fluffy pads, which enable the hares to travel lightly over the arctic
snowfields.
The distribution of arctic hares is confined to the barrens or tundras
beyond the limit of trees. They range practically to the land’s
end of northern Greenland and Ellesmere Land. To the southward in
North America they range down the coast of Labrador and across to
Newfoundland, where they are limited to the open barrens. They also
occur along the shores of Hudson Bay and follow the tundras bordering
Bering Sea to the peninsula of Alaska.
In Ellesmere Land they are reported to be extraordinarily numerous
at times in certain little valleys, and the fur traders on the coast
south of the Yukon Delta informed me of similar gatherings in spring on
gently sloping hillsides in that region. Photographs taken in Ellesmere
Land show many of these hares scattered over a small area, each
crouched in a compact form and all heading in the same direction to
face the wind. Such gatherings, at least those in Alaska, occur during
the mating period, after which the animals scatter over the area they
occupy.
An account of the big northern hares would be incomplete without
reference to the white-tailed jack rabbit, the largest of all American
hares and a near relative of the arctic species. It attains a weight
of twelve pounds or more and appears like a giant of its kind. It has
longer legs than the arctic hare and a longer tail. In summer it is
grayish or buffy, with a conspicuous pure white tail. Throughout most
of its range in winter it becomes pure white except the black tips to
the ears, but near the southern border the change to white is not so
complete as in the North. The distribution of the white-tailed jack
rabbit extends from Minnesota to the Cascade Mountains and from the
Saskatchewan River, in Alberta, south to southern Colorado.
Arctic hares have from one to seven young in a litter each spring.
Owing to the climatic conditions under which they exist, it is doubtful
if more than a single litter is born each year.
The manner in which animal life adapts itself to its environment
is beautifully illustrated by the arctic hares of north Greenland
and Ellesmere Land. There the conditions are rigorously arctic and
continuous winter night extends through a period of several months. In
all this region the scanty and dwarfed vegetation is covered with snow
and ice the larger part of the year. The hares living there are, with
little question, a geographic race of those living farther south, but
have developed into larger and stronger animals, with heavier fur, to
meet the sterner conditions of life.
Their claws are much larger and heavier, so that they may dig the snow
from the hidden herbage. Most marvelous of all, the anterior ends of
both jaws are lengthened and the incisors set so that they project and
meet at an acute angle, thus serving, tweezerlike, more readily to pick
out the lowly vegetation imbedded in the snow.
In most parts of their range arctic hares are scarce and rarely
encountered. Each winter during my residence on the coast of Bering
Sea the Eskimos killed only a few individuals. They were shy and
watchful and the hunters sometimes followed one on snowshoes all day
over the tundra without securing it. In the high North they appear to
be more numerous in places, judging from the number killed for food by
members of polar expeditions. Their flesh is excellent, but a little
dry. Their natural enemies include wolves, foxes, weasels, gyrfalcons,
and snowy owls, all of which share their desolate haunts and join in
destroying them.
The winter skins of arctic hares have a beautiful snowy white pelage,
which make warm garments and sleeping robes for the North, but are too
delicate to withstand much service.
[Illustration: THE COTTONTAIL RABBIT’S TRACK
The large set of four tracks at the top gives the maximum possible of
detail, which is very rarely seen. The lower figure at the right-hand
corner is a typical track (_tt_). At the set marked “sitting” the tail
mark is seen, and in this only are the fore-feet tracks ahead of the
hind tracks. The cottontail has five toes on the front feet, but only
four ever show in the track (see page 510).]
=THE COTTONTAIL RABBITS= (=Sylvilagus floridanus= and its
relatives)
(_For illustration, see page 510_)
North America has several species of hares, but no typical
representative of the European rabbit. The American cottontails
and their near relatives, the brush rabbits and others, combine
characteristics of both the hares and rabbits, but are most like the
rabbits, of which they appear to form aberrant groups.
The cottontails are distinctly smaller than most of the American hares
and average from two to three pounds in weight. They are otherwise
contrasted with the hares by their short ears, proportionately shorter
and smaller legs and feet, and by the fluffy snow-white underside of
the tail, which shows so conspicuously as they run that it has given
them their distinctive name.
The American mammals to which the term “rabbit” may be properly applied
include not only the cottontails, but numerous other species closely
similar in form and general appearance, but lacking the cottony white
tail. As a group, these rabbits have a far greater distribution in
America than the hares. They range from the Atlantic coast to the
Pacific and from the southern border of Canada south through Central
and South America to Argentina. Their vertical distribution extends
from sea level to above timberline, attaining an altitude of more than
14,000 feet on Mount Orizaba, Mexico.
In the United States cottontails are so numerous and generally
distributed that they are well known to nearly every one. They inhabit
all kinds of country, from the deciduous forests of the Eastern States
to the grassy or brush-grown plains and pine-clad mountain slopes of
the West and the sun-scorched deserts of the Southwest. As a result of
this extended distribution and the variety of conditions in the areas
occupied, these rabbits include numerous species and geographic races,
which in some instances differ greatly in appearance.
Cottontails are especially common about the brushy borders of
cultivated lands throughout the country, and in fertile brush-grown
areas of foothills, valleys, and river bottoms of the West. They are
mainly nocturnal, and in areas where there is an abundance of natural
cover in the way of brushy thickets and dense grass commonly make
concealed “forms” in which they lie safely hidden.
In areas where shelter is represented by scattered bushes and a
comparatively thin growth of other vegetation they generally occupy
burrows in the ground. These may be holes deserted by badgers or
prairie-dogs or dug by themselves under a rock or other object.
Hollow logs or natural cavities and crevices among the rocks are also
frequented. When pursued by dogs, hares as a rule rely solely on their
speed for safety, while the cottontails take refuge in the first hole
they can reach.
Everywhere in their territory, as the shades of night approach, the
cottontails come forth from their hiding places and skip merrily about
in open ground on the borders of thickets and similar shelter, where
they search for the tender green vegetation on which they love to feed.
After it becomes too dark to distinguish their forms, the white tail
may be seen twinkling about in the dusk. During the night they are
often revealed in country roads by the head lights of automobiles.
Several litters of from two to six young usually appear during the
spring and summer. These are born blind and practically naked, their
unclad helplessness strongly contrasting with the open-eyed, fully
furred, and alert young of the hares at the same age. This is a
conclusive indication of the close relationship between cottontails and
European rabbits, the young of the latter being similarly, but even
more, undeveloped at birth.
The young of the cottontails are born in nests made of dead grasses
warmly lined with fur from the mother’s body. If above ground the
nest is placed in a little depression and so artfully concealed by a
covering of dead grasses that it can be discovered only by accident.
When caught, young cottontails utter little cries of alarm; the wounded
adults sometimes shriek in terror.
From the early settlement of the United States to the present day
cottontails have been so abundant that they have served as a valuable
source of our game food supply. They are hunted with guns and with
dogs, as well as being snared and trapped. Enormous numbers, running
into the millions, are killed in this country yearly, but they are so
prolific that they hold their own in a surprising degree.
Their abundance in many places, however, has made them a serious pest
to agriculture. They eat growing alfalfa and other forage plants, many
kinds of cultivated vegetables, young grape vines, and nursery stock
and even kill orchard trees by gnawing the bark from the base of the
trunks. As a result those who suffer from their depredations consider
them pests to be destroyed, while others look upon them as desirable
game animals to be protected by law.
As game animals the cottontails furnish some of the most delightful and
interesting sport available to American hunters. The scurrying zigzag
rush of a cottontail for the nearest shelter is so full of energetic
motion that it always excites a pleasurable thrill in the observer, and
even the keenest sportsman has so friendly a feeling for these little
animals that the escape of one of them from an unsuccessful shot nearly
always leaves a feeling of humorous amusement.
The cottontails have a secure place in American literature and
folklore. Who has not read the wonder stories of the adventures of
“Brer Rabbit” and ever after had a warmer feeling of fellowship for his
kind? The presence of cottontails is a source of pleasure to children
of all ages, and their disappearance from the wild life of a locality
creates a more deeply felt blank than would the passing of many a
nobler animal.
=THE MARSH RABBIT= (=Sylvilagus palustris= and its relatives)
(_For illustration, see page 511_)
The marsh rabbit, or “pontoon,” as it is known in Georgia, is a
distinctively American species allied to the cottontails, but
distinguished from them by its more heavily proportioned body, smaller
ears, shorter and slenderer legs and feet, and shorter, nearly
unicolored tail. Its only close relative in the United States is the
swamp rabbit, known in Alabama as the “cane-cutter.”
These two species appear to be members of a Tropical American group
of which other members are the wood rabbits of Mexico, Central and
South America. The distribution of the group was probably at one time
continuous, but a change to arid conditions in northeastern Mexico and
Texas isolated the two species remaining in this country.
The distribution of the marsh rabbit is limited to the southeastern
coastal States from Dismal Swamp, Virginia, to Mobile Bay, Alabama. It
is common in suitable places in Florida. Its larger relative, the swamp
rabbit, ranges west from this area to Texas and up the Mississippi
Valley to Illinois and southeastern Kansas. Swamp rabbits are numerous
in the low, wooded coastal region of Louisiana. They are larger and
longer-legged than marsh rabbits and fleeter of foot.
Among all the rabbits of the world the marsh and swamp rabbits are the
only species which have aquatic habits. Both live mainly in marshes,
wooded swamps, and along the low wooded courses of streams. Other
rabbits and hares are occasionally known to cross water by swimming,
but the marsh and swamp rabbits live about the water and take to it
with all the freedom of a muskrat or mink. The marsh rabbit appears to
be the more aquatic of the two, as the swamp rabbit sometimes lives in
the forest, farther back from the water.
The Tropical wood rabbits are habitants of the dense forests, where
they are well hidden under the rank undergrowth. They are not known
to enter the water, but, like their northern relatives, make runways
through the dense vegetation they frequent. The marsh rabbits live
in cypress or other fresh-water swamps, heavily wooded bottoms, and
fresh water, as well as brackish marshes. They feed on a variety of
vegetation growing in such places and dig up such edible roots as the
wild potato and amaryllis.
Both marsh and swamp rabbits have several litters of from two to six
young each season, beginning in April. The young are born in large,
well-made covered nests, which are built of rushes, grasses, and leaves
and lined with hair from the parents. The nests, which have an entrance
on one side, are usually located in the midst of dense growths of
vegetation or on tussocks, in low, swampy places, and are sometimes
surrounded by water. In the most frequented parts of marsh and swamp
these rabbits make well-trodden trails through the dense vegetation.
When alarmed, marsh rabbits run for the nearest water, into which they
plunge and swim quickly to the shelter of aquatic plants or other
cover. When cut off from escape by water they try to avoid capture by
doubling and turning, but are so short-legged that they are readily
overtaken by a dog. The tracks of these rabbits in the mud differ from
those of the cottontails in showing imprints of the spreading toes.
In South Carolina Bachman once found numerous marsh rabbits in the
thickets about recently flooded rice fields and swamps. When he beat
the bushes the rabbits plunged into the water and swam away so rapidly
that some escaped from a Newfoundland dog which accompanied him.
Several, apparently thinking themselves unnoticed, stopped and remained
motionless about fifteen yards from the shore, with only their eyes and
noses showing above water. Thus concealed in the muddy water, with ears
laid flat on their necks, they were difficult to see. When touched with
a stick they appeared unwilling to move until they saw that they were
discovered, when they quickly swam away.
Later, when the water subsided to its regular channels, where it was
about eight feet deep, many of the rabbits were seen swimming about,
meeting and pursuing one another as if in sport. One which Bachman had
in captivity during warm weather would lie for hours in a trough partly
filled with water, with which the cage was furnished.
=THE PIKA, OR CONY= (=Ochotona princeps= and its relatives)
(_For illustration, see page 511_)
The pika, little chief hare, or cony, as it is variously named, is
among the most attractive and interesting of our mountain animals. It
is about the size and shape of a small guinea-pig, with a short, blunt
head, broad, rounded ears, short legs, practically no tail, and a long,
fluffy coat of fur. While most nearly related to the hares and rabbits,
it has very different habits.
The pikas form a group comprising many species, much alike in general
appearance and distributed among the high mountains, from the Urals
of Russia through Asia and northern North America. In Asia they occur
mainly in the mountains through the middle of the continent south
to the Himalayas. In Pleistocene time they ranged across Europe to
England. In North America they are limited to the western side of the
continent, from the Mount McKinley region of Alaska down the Rocky
Mountains to New Mexico and along the Cascades and Sierra Nevada to the
Mount Whitney region, in California.
Giving to these North American animals the appellation “cony” is one of
many instances in which the name of an Old World animal is brought to
America to designate a totally unrelated species. Once fixed in current
use, the misapplied term is certain to persist.
Pikas are among the few mammals which live permanently along the high
crests of the mountains, mainly above timberline, but they also descend
in rock slides among the upper spruces, firs, and pines. The altitude
of their haunts varies with the latitude, being between 8,000 and
13,500 feet in the United States, but in Alaska much lower.
In these cool, alpine regions the little animals live wholly within the
shelter of rock slides and among the crevices of shattered rock masses.
Their distribution is unaccountably broken, and although abundant in
many places, they are absent from many others equally suitable. Their
homes are in the midst of the flower-bedecked glacial valleys and
basins, the haunts of the big marmots and mountain sheep.
They are mainly diurnal in habits, and throughout the day may be heard
their odd little barking, or bleating note, like the syllables “eh-eh”
repeated at intervals in a nasal tone, resembling the sound made by
squeezing a toy dog. Occasionally they may be heard barking at night,
perhaps when disturbed by some prowling enemy. Their notes have a
curiously ventriloquial quality, which renders it difficult to locate
the animals uttering them.
Owing to their dull gray or brownish colors, the pikas blend with their
background so completely that when quietly sitting on a rock they
are extremely difficult to see. Even when running about at a little
distance they are not easily noted. Their movements are quick and they
scamper over the rough surface of a rock slide with surprising agility.
Little is known of their more intimate life history. Their young, three
or four in number, are born usually during the first half of summer and
are out foraging when less than half-grown.
Small, bright eyes and big, rounded ears give pikas an odd and
attractive appearance, unlike that of any other mountain animal. They
are extremely watchful and at the first alarm disappear in the shelter
of their rocky fortresses. Their little bark, however, continues to
come up from their hiding places with constant iteration. If the
observer will sit quietly at some good vantage point his patience will
eventually be rewarded by the appearance of the pika on the top of a
stone near the mouth of its retreat.
After a time, if everything is quiet, it resumes its scampering about
over the rocks or may come to the border of the slide and make little
excursions across the open ground after some of its forage plants.
Skipping nimbly from the border of the slides to neighboring patches of
vegetation, sometimes fifty or more feet away, the pika nips off the
stems of short grasses or other plants and taking them up, like small
bundles, crosswise in its mouth, runs back to add them to its “stacks.”
These sallies are quick little runs, made as though in fear of being
long away from the safety of the rocks. Caution is needful, however,
in a world where lurk such enemies as coyotes, lynxes, foxes, weasels,
hawks, and owls.
During late summer the pikas have the extraordinary habit of gathering
stores of small herbage in piles containing sometimes a bushel each,
usually well sheltered in dry places under the rocks where they live.
Pikas are active all winter, and these little stacks of well-cured hay,
containing a great variety of small plants, serve them as food during
the severe cold season, when at these high altitudes they are buried
under many feet of snow.
In pleasant weather, near the end of summer, visitors to the mountains
of Colorado, Glacier National Park, the high slopes of Mount Shasta, or
of the Sierra Nevada may have the pleasure of watching the pikas hard
at work doing their “haying.” One of their “stacks” in the mountains
of New Mexico contained thirty-four kinds of plants, including many
flowers. No one who once becomes acquainted with these unique and
gentle little animals will ever cease to remember them with friendly
interest.
[Illustration: THE TRAIL OF A FIELD OR MEADOW MOUSE
When compared with that of the deermouse, one notes the absence of the
tail mark and the rarity of the fore feet being paired (see pages 505
and 522).]
=THE PORCUPINE= (=Erethizon dorsatum= and its relatives)
(_For illustration, see page 514_)
The porcupine is one of the most grotesque of the smaller North
American mammals. With a weight of from fifteen to twenty pounds, its
heavy body is supported on short legs, the feet resting flat on the
ground like those of the raccoon, instead of on the toes, as in most
small animals.
Its strongest peculiarity is the specialized development of most of
the fur into rigid, sharp-pointed spines or “quills” from half an inch
to over three inches in length. That the spines represent the underfur
of ordinary mammals is evident from the fact that they are overlaid by
long, coarse guard hairs, sometimes several times their length.
The spiny armament usually lies flat on the body, but when the animal
is excited or alarmed it may be raised, by special muscles on the
underside of the skin, into a bristling array of barbed points. The
spines are so slightly attached that when their points enter the skin
of an enemy they at once become free at the base. The points firmly
set in the skin of another animal, the spines can be withdrawn only
with considerable effort, and if left will gradually work deeper and
may traverse a considerable part of the victim’s body before finally
becoming encysted.
When assailed the porcupine turns down its head, arches its back,
and, on firmly planted feet with all its spines erected into a
bristling cover, awaits the enemy. The instant its body is touched the
club-shaped tail, armed with a multitude of spines, is swung vigorously
around and the animal so incautious as to receive the blow is pierced
by a host of stinging darts which, freed from the porcupine, remain
to torment the aggressor. This swift and effective sweep of the tail
has probably given rise to the idea that the porcupine can “shoot” its
quills when defending itself.
Despite its defensive powers, however, the porcupine is, on occasion,
successfully attacked by various enemies, including the mountain lion,
bobcat, fisher, and even the eagle and great horned owl. The fisher is
said habitually to kill and feed upon them, and the encysted quills are
commonly found under its skin.
The frightful effect of an ill-judged attack on a porcupine is shown
by inexperienced dogs after their first encounter with this strange
beast. That such an attack is a dangerous venture, even by the
craftiest and most powerful of its enemies, is well demonstrated by
occasional fatalities among large carnivores which result from the
great mass of spines imbedded in their heads and bodies.
The North American porcupine is a northern animal belonging mainly
to coniferous forests, and ranges from sea level to timberline. It
originally occupied nearly all the forested parts of the continent
south to West Virginia, southern Illinois, the Davis Mountains of
western Texas, and the southern end of the Sierra Nevada in California,
but was absent from the Southeastern States and the lower Mississippi
Valley.
While characteristically a woodland animal, at times it wanders from
forest shelters and has been found prowling about above timberline on
high mountains, and among alder thickets beyond the limit of trees in
the far North. They are usually silent, but at times utter a curious
squealing cry, and in addition have a variety of snuffing, growling,
and chattering noises.
In the forests of tropical America, from Mexico to Brazil, other and
shorter-quilled porcupines occur, characterized by smaller size and
slenderer bodies with a long tail, the terminal half of which is naked
and prehensile like that of an opossum. These animals inhabit forests
where no conifers grow, and are much more arboreal in habits than their
northern relatives. Still other and even more strikingly different
porcupines occur in Europe, Asia, and Africa, some of the African
animals having heavy spines more than twelve inches long.
All porcupines are true rodents, and the name hedgehog is erroneously
used when applied to any of them. Hedgehogs are small Old World
insect-eating mammals, which have their backs covered with
porcupine-like spines, but are in no way related to the porcupines.
The American porcupines are mainly nocturnal, although they sometimes
wander about by day. While largely arboreal in habits, they pass much
of their time on the ground and commonly have their dens in caves at
the bases of cliffs, under the shelter of large rocks, logs, piles of
brush, or in hollows at the bases of trees. They are sluggish, stupid
animals, with poor sight, and are unable to move rapidly, either in a
tree or on the ground.
Although on the ground they are extremely deliberate, in the treetops
they are even more sluggish and can be compared only with the sloth.
In consequence they are practically helpless in the presence of an
enemy except for the defense afforded by their spiny armor. That in
most cases this is effective is evidenced by their continued presence
throughout a large part of their original range where forests still
exist.
Porcupines are solitary animals, totally devoid of any qualities of
good fellowship with their kind, but the attraction of woodland camps
often brings a number together. They are exceedingly fond of salt and
persistently return to camps to gnaw logs, boards, or any other object
having a salty flavor.
They appear to be practically omnivorous so far as vegetable matter
is concerned and feed upon the bark and twigs of spruces, hemlocks,
several species of pines, cottonwoods, alders, and other trees and
bushes. In orchards and gardens near their haunts they eat apples,
turnips, and other fruits and vegetables and visit the shores of ponds
for waterlily pads and other aquatic plants growing within reach.
Ordinarily they eat patches of bark from the tree trunks, but sometimes
girdle the tree or at times denude the entire trunk. They often remain
for weeks in the top of a single tree, even in the severest winter
weather. I had a practical illustration of this on one occasion when
stormbound in a fur trader’s cabin at the head of Norton Bay, on the
north coast of Bering Sea, where a belt of spruces reached down from
the interior. We were short of meat, and when one of the Eskimos
reported that some time before he had seen a porcupine in a spruce tree
he was sent to look for it. A few hours later he returned bringing
the game, having found it in the very same tree where he had seen it
many days before, although we had just experienced a period of severe
weather, with temperatures well under 40 degrees Fahrenheit below zero.
It was on this occasion that I first learned the palatable qualities of
porcupine flesh.
Little is known definitely concerning the family life of these animals.
The young, from one to four in number, are amazingly large at birth and
appear fully armed with spines. Even before they are half grown they
adopt the solitary habit of the adults and wander forth to care for
themselves.
Porcupine’s have an intimate connection with the romantic side of
early Indian life in eastern America. Their white quills were colored
in bright hues by vegetable dyes known to the Indians and served to
make beautiful embroidery on belts, moccasins, and other articles of
aboriginal clothing until primitive art gave way to the more tawdry
effects of trade goods.
=THE JUMPING MOUSE= (=Zapus hudsonius= and its relatives)
(_For illustration, see page 514_)
In several ways the jumping mouse is unique among American mammals.
Its strongest characteristics are a dull, rusty yellowish color, a
slender body about three inches long, a remarkably slender tail about
five inches in length, and long hind legs and feet, which are specially
developed for jumping, like those of a little kangaroo. In addition it
is provided with cheek pouches, one on each side of the mouth, in which
it gathers food to be carried to its hidden stores.
The long tail serves as a balance during its extraordinary leaps, some
of which in a single bound cover a distance of about ten feet. If by
accident one of these animals loses its tail, whenever it jumps it is
thrown into a series of somersaults, turning helplessly over and over
in the air.
The jumping mice form a small group of species and geographic
races closely similar in general appearance. They are the sole
representatives in North America of the Old World jerboas and are
themselves represented elsewhere by a single species occurring in the
interior of China. The jerboa family contains in addition many larger
and curiously diverse species distributed over a large part of Asia,
Africa, and southern Europe. Many Old World jerboas are desert animals,
some of them exact reproductions in shape and color of the kangaroo
rats of arid regions in the Western and Southwestern States and Mexico,
although they are in no way related to those animals.
Jumping mice are distributed over most of the northern parts of North
America from the Atlantic coast of Labrador to the Bering Sea coast
of Alaska, and southward to North Carolina, Illinois, New Mexico,
and California. They are nocturnal in habits and live in or near the
borders of forests, in thickets of weeds or brushwood, and in meadows
adjoining woodland areas or forest lakes. In prairie country they
occupy belts of woody growth bordering streams. In congenial locations
they range from sea level up to an altitude of 8,000 feet or more.
For winter homes they dig burrows two or three feet deep, in the lower
parts of which they excavate oval chambers and fill them with fine
grass and other soft material to make a warm nest. Other chambers
opening from these burrows serve as store-rooms for berries, seeds, and
nuts of various kinds, among which beechnuts are a favorite.
The nests occupied as summer homes are placed in shallow burrows a few
inches below the surface of the ground, or they may be in a hollow
tree, under a piece of bark, in a dense tussock of grass, or in other
makeshift shelter. In these nests the young, varying from two to
eight in number, are born at varying times between May and September,
indicating the probability that more than one litter is produced each
season.
When suddenly startled from her nest the female often flees with
several of the young clinging to her teats. She runs swiftly through
the grass, and if hard pressed will take a long leap, still carrying
the pendant young. It is surprising that such delicately formed animals
can make long leaps in thickly grown places and apparently land safely,
especially when carrying their young. In the flights of the mother some
of the young must be jarred loose, but when the alarm is over no doubt
she returns to find and rescue any that may be missing.
In the northeastern States jumping mice are common habitants of
meadows. They are equally at home in the rocky meadows of New England,
on the flower-spangled borders of rushing trout streams in the Sierra
Nevada of California, and the boggy glades of subarctic Alaska.
My first acquaintance with them was made many years ago, during haying
time, in northern New York. Hidden under a haycock, as the last forkful
was raised one of them was often revealed, and its startling leaps
always resulted in an exciting chase, which usually ended in the escape
of the strange little beast.
Unlike most of their small fellows of meadow and thicket, jumping mice
regularly hibernate, occupying the nests near the bottoms of the winter
burrows. They usually become fat on the abundance of food at the end of
summer, and in September or October, with the approach of cool weather,
enter their winter quarters and sink into the long, hibernating
lethargy. Sometimes two of them are found hibernating in the same nest.
During hibernation they are coiled up in little furry balls, the nose
resting on the abdomen, the hind feet on each side of the head, and
the tail wound around the body. The winter sleep usually lasts until
spring, but may be broken at any time by mild weather.
When hibernating the mice appear cold and lifeless, but if one is
carried into a warm house or even held a long time in the captor’s
hands it will slowly awaken and may become as lively as in summer. When
returned to a low temperature, however, it soon resumes its mysterious
seasonal sleep.
=THE SILKY POCKET MICE= (=Perognathus flavus= and its
relatives)
(_For illustration, see page 515_)
Soft, shining fur, delicate coloring, and graceful form distinguish the
silky pocket mice from others of their kind. The family of which they
are members consists of rodents peculiar to America and includes many
other species of pocket mice and kangaroo rats. All are provided with
little pouches on each side of the mouth for gathering and carrying
food, have proportionately long tails, and hind legs and feet more or
less developed for jumping. Only in the most remote way, however, are
they related to the jumping mice of the jerboa family.
The silky pocket mice vary in size from the tiny yellow species
pictured on the accompanying plate, which weighs much less than an
ounce, to forms considerably larger than the common house mouse. The
little yellow pocket mouse is one of the smallest mammals in the world,
and in addition is one of the most beautiful of our small species. Its
bright eyes and the delicacy of its form and color, combined with the
readiness with which, in most instances, it appears to lose all fear
when caught and gently handled, render it extremely attractive.
As with the majority of other pocket mice, the silky-haired species
are limited to the more arid parts of North America, and range from
the Great Plains west of the Mississippi Valley to the eastern base
of the Cascades, to the Sierra Nevada, and farther southward to the
Pacific coast, and from the Canadian border to the Valley of Mexico.
Vertically, the range of these mice extends from sea level to an
altitude of more than 7,000 feet.
As with the majority of our wild mammals, little accurate information
is available concerning their life history. They are habitants mainly
of desert regions, where they prefer the areas of sandy loam, which
produce an abundance of scattered desert vegetation. They are nocturnal
and by day are seen only when driven from their nests. Their rather
shallow burrows are made in soft soil, the situation varying a little
with the species. Some species burrow only under the shelter of bushes
or other vegetation; others out in the bare ground.
Each burrow commonly has grouped in a small area several entrance
holes, which lead through tunnels to the central passageway, the nest,
and the storage chambers. Usually there is a little pile of loose dirt
thrown out on one side of a hole, or a group of holes may be in a
little mound of earth. The entrances are usually stopped from within
by loose earth, and if a person quietly thrusts in a short stick so
as to remove the earthy plug and let in the light he may see the dirt
suddenly returned to its place in little jets, as the occupant promptly
kicks the door closed again.
The young, varying from two to six in a litter, are born in these
little dens in warm nests of dried grasses. They have been found at all
times between April and September, thus making it apparent that several
litters are produced each season.
The silky, as well as the other kinds of desert pocket mice, do not
drink water, and, as has been shown by experiments, they may be kept
for months in thoroughly dry sand and fed on dried seeds without any
resulting discomfort. Through the long pressure of desert environment
they have developed the power to produce sufficient water for their
physiological processes by chemical changes in the starch in their
food, which are effected in the digestive tract.
Representatives of this group of mice are almost everywhere in the
arid parts of their range, and in many sandy localities are extremely
numerous and active at night, as shown by the multitude of little
tracks in the dust at sunrise each morning. Their presence in the
desert is indicated also by the many little conical pits half an inch
or an inch deep, where they have located small seeds and dug them up.
They lie close in their burrows during cold or stormy weather,
depending on their stores for food, but are not known to hibernate,
although in the northern part of their range they are confined to their
burrows for long periods.
At one of my camps in the desert of Lower California I found the
silky and other pocket mice excessively numerous and so short of food
that they swarmed about us at night with amazing lack of fear. My
experiences with them are given in the accompanying account of the
spiny pocket mice.
The silky and other pocket mice have many enemies, among the worst of
which are the handsome little desert fox and the coyote. Others which
continually prey upon them are the badger, skunk, and bobcat, as well
as many owls.
=THE SPINY POCKET MICE= (=Perognathus hispidus= and its
relatives)
(_For illustration, see page 515_)
Pocket mice are divided into several natural groups of species, all
having certain characters in common, as a pointed head, lengthened hind
feet and legs, and external cheek pouches for carrying food. The spiny
group contains numerous species, the smallest of which is about the
size of a house mouse and the largest nearly twice that size.
They are more slenderly built than the silky species and have longer
tails, with the hairs lengthened along the terminal half, thus giving a
slightly brushy or tufted appearance. Their most striking character is
the distinctly coarser hair with long scattered guard hairs, like small
bristles, which conspicuously overlie the fur on the hinder parts of
the body and from which the common name is derived.
The distribution of the spiny forms, although nearly the same as that
of the silky ones, is a little more restricted. All belong to the arid
or desert parts of the West and Southwest, from South Dakota and middle
California southward to Michoacan, near the southern end of the Mexican
tableland, and throughout Lower California.
Some species inhabit the scattered growth of plants in sandy areas, but
they are more generally characteristic of harder and more rock-strewn
soil, rocky mesas, and foothill slopes. There a few species make
burrows in open ground, sometimes with a single hole, but most of them
make their nests under rocks, in crevices, or in burrows sheltered
by such desert bushes as Covillea, Bursera, Olneya, Cercidium, and
mesquites.
In these shelters pocket mice make little mounds a few inches high
and ten or fifteen inches across. The mounds have several entrances
on different sides, one of which generally shows signs of recent use,
although by day it is kept closed from within by loose earth. Each of
the many-entranced dens is occupied by a single animal. Early in the
morning, before the wind fills them with dust, tiny trails are to be
seen leading from these doorways toward the nearest feeding grounds and
all about their haunts.
The spiny and the silky pocket mice, sharing much the same arid region,
have the same food plants and are preyed upon by the same enemies.
The food of these mice consists mainly of small seeds, including the
wild morning glory, wild sunflowers, wild parsnips, and a multitude of
others characteristic of the various areas they occupy.
Pocket mice are strictly nocturnal or crepuscular in habits and appear
by day only when disturbed. If the plugged entrance to a burrow is
opened, however, it will probably be quickly stopped up again from
within by the annoyed householder.
The young, in litters of from two to eight, are born at irregular times
according to the latitude and general weather conditions. In the south
at least several litters appear to be born each year, the young being
noted almost every month.
When camping alone for a few days in the desert near San Ignacio,
in the middle of the peninsula of Lower California, I had a unique
opportunity to learn something of the peculiarities of the various
pocket mice. Three species were abundantly represented, including both
the silky and the spiny kinds. They quickly learned that good hunting
could be found in and about the tents for the rice grains and other
scattered food and promptly took advantage of it.
As soon as approaching darkness began to render objects indistinct,
from their burrows among the surrounding bushes they swarmed into camp
and were busy throughout the night minutely searching the ground under
the shelter tent for every particle of food. In order to see these
interesting visitors to better advantage I placed a candle on a small
box in the middle of the tent.
Five or six individuals, representing three species, often came
within the circle of light at the same time. At first all were shy
and when I made any sudden movement would leap in every direction,
like grasshoppers, and quickly vanish. The smallest of the species, a
member of the silky group, was the shyest of all and remained timid and
reserved.
The two larger species, representing both the spiny and the silky
groups, were much more bold and quickly became confiding and
delightfully friendly. Their attention was promptly attracted to rolled
oats which I scattered on the ground in a spot well lighted by the
candle.
Sitting quietly close by the bait where the visitors congregated I soon
had evidence that among themselves these little beasts are extremely
pugnacious. The first to reach the food would fiercely charge the next
comer and always try to leap upon its back, at the same time delivering
a vicious downward kick with its strong hind feet. Occasionally the
newcomer would charge the one already at the food.
When five or six were trying to secure sole possession of the small
food pile there was lively skirmishing about the premises, as they
alternately attacked and pursued one another over the sand and among
the boxes and other camp gear scattered about. Amazingly quick in
movements, they would leap now forward, now sidewise, now straight up a
foot or more in the air, with almost equal celerity; and the direction
of their movements when attacked was often unexpected. When running
about on the level sand they had a steady, swiftly gliding motion,
which their tracks showed was the result of a series of little jumps.
Both the spiny and the silky pocket mice became so confiding the first
night that when I put my hand on the ground palm up with a little
rolled oats in it the nearest pocket mouse would run to it, stop for an
instant to smell the finger-tips, and then mount and sit quietly on
the palm and fill its cheek pouches.
At such times the mice showed no uneasiness, even when raised in my
hand to within a few inches of my eyes in order that I might observe
their movements more closely. The motions of their front feet when
putting food into the pouches were so rapid that it was impossible to
follow them. The nose was held just over the food pile, and the cheek
pouches would slowly but visibly swell as they were filled until they
stood out like little bladders on each side of the head.
As soon as they were full the mice became uneasy to get away and would
run from one side of my hand to the other peering down the abysmal
depth of three feet to the ground without daring to leap. As soon as
my hand was lowered to the ground the mouse darted away to carry the
food to its store in the bushes twenty to thirty yards away, quickly to
return with empty pouches.
The mice soon became so tame that while they were on my hand or on the
ground I could with one finger of the other hand stroke gently the
tops of their heads and backs and even pick them up by their tails and
suspend them head down. When thus held they remained motionless, their
tiny front feet like little closed hands held against their breasts.
When lowered and released they would immediately resume the filling of
their pouches as though nothing had happened. Several individuals of
the dozen or more which made free of the tent had lost part of their
tails, so that they could be readily distinguished.
One of these little bobtails was so gentle and confiding that I became
much attached to it. It would permit all manner of familiar treatment,
such as being picked up by one foot or by the tail, or being turned on
its back. With this confidence came a sense of proprietorship in the
good things here so suddenly and mysteriously plentiful, as was shown
by his attitude toward his fellows.
Again and again when he was filling his pouches from a pile of rolled
oats in my hand I lowered it in a gently sloping position within ten
or fifteen inches of another mouse gathering food on the ground.
Thereupon the little bobtail in my hand would invariably leave the task
of filling his pouches and without hesitation leap down on the back
of the one on the ground. The surprised animal thus assailed from an
unexpected quarter always fled in terror.
After a short pursuit the bobtailed one would come running back and
instead of going to the equally inviting pile of food on the ground
would come straight to my hand and complete his task. The industry
of the little animals appeared to be tireless, as working swiftly
they made trip after trip with pouchloads of food to their stores and
quickly returned. One night I watched this strenuous work for two hours
until I retired.
The abundance and boldness of pocket mice and kangaroo rats at this
place led me to believe that there had been a former abundance
of their food here, resulting in a large increase in the rodent
population, but that it was then becoming scarce through a failure of
rain to renew the seed harvest. The invariable outcome in such cases is
for the small rodents dependent on seeds and fruits to be reduced by
famine until they become rare, where previously they existed in great
numbers. This is one of Nature’s processes whereby the danger of the
overwhelming increase of any species is automatically prevented.
[Illustration: